The Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activities [Paperback]

Malcolm Nance (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

Whether they are acting as a one-person cell, or with a sophisticated global finance and logistics network, terrorists can be members of nearly any race, sex, religion, or political persuasion. But every terrorist operation always has certain characteristics, and the only effective way to identify and prevent terrorists is to observe their behavior and analyze it with an intelligence-based approach. In THE TERRORIST RECOGNITION HANDBOOK, terrorism expert Malcolm Nance shows:

· How terrorist groups are classified and organized
· How intelligence, operations, planning, logistics cells operate
· The key steps every terrorist group always follow
· How to recognize the stages of a terrorist plot
· Known terrorist groups and their tactics
· How and why groups use conventional, biological, and chemical weapons
· How to analyze intelligence with inductive and deductive reasoning

THE TERRORIST RECOGNITION HANDBOOK is the first and only commercially available handbook that debunks the aura of mystery surrounding terrorist activities as it uncovers the terrorists' means, methods, organization, and motivations. It will be an invaluable resource and training guide for police officers, SWAT teams, federal officials, security companies, local water boards, chemical plants, oil refineries, power generating facilities, electrical and telephone utilities, airport facilities, public transportation officials, education officials, journalists, and ordinary citizens.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Whether they are acting as a one-person cell, or with a sophisticated global finance and logistics network, terrorists can be members of nearly any race, sex, religion, or political persuasion. But every terrorist operation always has certain characteristics, and the only effective way to identify and prevent terrorists is to observe their behavior and analyze it with an intelligence-based approach. For the first time, a former U.S. military anti-terrorism intelligence officer reveals thousands of Terrorist Attack Pre-incident Indicators (TAPIs) in The Terrorist Recognition Handbook, and shows:
· How terrorist operatives are classified and organized by skill level
· How intelligence, operations, planning, logistics cells operate
· The key steps every terrorist group always follow
· How to recognize the stages of a terrorist plot
· The entire range of attack tactics, techniques, and methodologies of known terrorist groups
· How and why groups use conventional, radiological, nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons at the street level
· How to conduct terrorism intelligence analysis in the field
With dozens of incident case studies and hundreds of illustrations, The Terrorist Recognition Handbook is the first and only commercially available handbook that debunks the aura of mystery surrounding terrorist activities as it uncovers the terrorists' means, methods, organization, and motivations. It will be an invaluable resource and training guide for police officers, SWAT teams, federal officials, security companies, local water boards, chemical plants, oil refineries, power generating facilities, electrical and telephone utilities, airport facilities, public transportation officials, education officials, journalists, and ordinary citizens.

About the Author

MALCOLM W. NANCE is a 20-year veteran of the US intelligence community's Combating Terrorism program and Director of Special Operations for the SRSI Corporation. He has worked as an anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism operator including direct support to the National Security Agency, CIA, and DIA. Mr. Nance speaks eight languages, and was decorated ten times for his conduct as a witness and intelligence collector during the 1983 US Marine Barracks, both American embassy bombings in Beirut, the TWA 847 hijacking, the Libyan Air Raid; and combat actions against, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Bosnia, Yugoslavia. Additionally Mr. Nance lectured for three years on terrorist tactics and protective measures for the FBI, DEA, IABTI, and the US Navy. He has trained journalists from the BBC, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, USA Today, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, The Travel Channel, and The Discovery Channel. He lives in Washington, DC.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592280250
• ISBN-13: 978-1592280254
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,409,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ANTI-TERRORISM REFERENCE MANUAL, June 14, 2004

By 

Jim Krueger (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activities (Paperback)

I served on active duty in the USMC for 14 years. During the last six years of my Marine Corps career, I served as an Anti-terrorism/Force Protection (AT/FP) Officer for various commands. I received the required training for this position by attending various military schools, and I had the oppurtunity to attend different classes at the FBI Academy regarding terrorist operations.

Based on my training and experience, I believe this is an OUTSTANDING BOOK. Through all of my years of research on the subject, I have never been able to find one complete reference manual (until now). Mr. Nance's in-depth coverage on a wide range of AT/FP issues makes this book a must read for anyone deploying overseas. Additionally, the sections on Operatives, Terrorist Operations, and Ten Phases to Terrorist Attacks is excellent. The information is extremely helpful to untrained military personnel acting in a security capacity.

Thank God someone has finally written a complete an accurate book about anti-terrorism methods and procedures.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A journalist OnTerrorism, June 4, 2004

By 

John Doman (Mahtomedi, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activities (Paperback)

As a newspaper journalist/photojournalist I am forced to live a shared life of typical newspaper assignments at home mixed with the occassional mad rush of a foreign assignment. A foreign assignment is just exactly that to me; foreign, and I found the reading of Nance's book an extremely good primer on the dangers of being parachuted into a strange place at a strange time. I feel like Im closer to knowing what to look for after reading this handbook than I was before--after all, a bit of educated distrust and paranoia is a good thing to have in my line of work.

Too many of my fellow journalists go into alien situations with ill-gotten, ill-informed notions and All-American bravado. Not good. Dumb luck sometimes works, but it ought not be counted upon. Better to know what to look for, and who to suspect--this book helps.

Furthermore, the handbook seems a good backgrounder for any writer doing pieces on terrorism in their state, province or community. Presently any newspaper journalist from a rural weekly staffer to an elite writer at the NYT will be finding himself/herself doing stories on terrorism. Our times. This book and its extended bibliography should help shake out some clues on the who, what, where's and whyfores of this most dangerous subject.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars top notch~, July 6, 2004

By 

Jackson P. Wallop (Washington, DC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activities (Paperback)

This is the most clear, concise, well-written book available on terrorist activity recognition. I highly recommend this book for all fieldworkers, analysts, academics, etc, regardless of previous knowledge/experience level.
It was a pleasure to read and highly educational; a very important and valuable text~